Airlayer removal in Autumn or wait till next season?

[backyardbonsai]

Hi friends,

I have this Ariadne Japanese maple that i put a airlayer back in Spring, It did not produce roots after about 2 months and it callused up only, so I recleaned up the callus area and made a fresh cut for the roots to grow from.

So now during the end of summer and early Autumn i see there a few roots growing which is great to see.
The roots are only grown on what is visible in the attached photo, mainly on 1 side of the pot and has not grown fully around the whole pot.

But the question is do i remove the layer with what roots it has already or do i leave it untill next growing season to grow more roots?

Usually my layers produce roots by summer and i have removed them, but i havent had one that went this far into Autumn.

Thanks for your help.

IMG_6068 (1).jpg

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[shibui]

You have not given a location. Much of what we do depends on seasonal influence so it's hard to be specific without knowing whether you are in cool, temperate or tropical area.
You mention it's now Autumn which means somewhere in Southern hemisphere but that's still a big chunk of the Earth and climate zones.
The following refers to my cool winter climate location. Recommendations for a longer season or warmer winters could be different.

I'm guessing that's a transparent container and we can see some roots through the container?
If the roots visible are all this tree has produced that should still be enough for it to survive BUT I probably would not separate this late in the growing season.
I'm not familiar with 'Ariadne' but it is listed as a small growing, somewhat weeping cultivar. In general, many of the smaller forms of A. palmatum are small because their roots are not as strong as the larger types which may explain it's reluctance to produce better roots and makes me a little more wary of pushing the boundaries of how little roots may be needed for the tree to survive.

The tree will be close to going dormant now, so little root growth expected in the coming weeks and through winter until next Spring.
Spring seems to be the best time of year for root growth and is the time of year I've had best success separating trees with less than optimum root growth. Separating from the resources provided by the parent plant seems to make the layer concentrate effort into more roots for survival in my experience.
I have found no problem with leaving layers on the parent tree through our (relatively mild) winters so there should be no risk of leaving the layer in place through winter.
It is still possible for the tree to survive if separated now but there is a risk that part of the trunk without roots may die back. Given that it's also a dwarf form that may have weaker roots there's also a chance of it not surviving without adequate roots.

[TimS]

From years of experience air layering maples I agree it’s too late now to separate UNLESS the pot/ bag whatever is absolutely chock-block with roots and the foliage appewrance is as healthy as it would be if it hasn’t been layered (ie can without a doubt survive separation)

I’ve left a Kiyohime layer on over winter before and separated the following summer IIRC and had no ill effects at all. I have had layers separated in autumn struggle and fail however.

I say keep it on, monitor closely how damp/ dry you keep it through winter and aim for late spring/ early summer removal this year

[backyardbonsai]

Many thanks for the information, i have updated my profile with some details which should help. I am in Sydney and your information is very relevant to my zone. So i think i will be leaving this tree untill next Spring/summer and by then it should have a bunch more roots to surive.

I can see this morning that its still producing new roots which is excellent to see.

regards,